Occidental Petroleum Raises Dividend By a Penny

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said Thursday it will raise its quarterly dividend by a penny, or 1.3%, to 77 cents share. The oil and gas exploration company said the new dividend will be payable Oct. 16 to shareholders of record on Sept. 11. At current stock prices, the new annual dividend rate of $3.08 a share implies a dividend yield of 5.20%, compared with the SPDR Energy Select Sector's yield of 2.59% and the S&P 500's implied yield of 1.99%. "The dividend increase reflects our commitment to growing Occidental's dividend annually for our shareholders, and our confidence in the company's financial strength and future performance," said Occidental Chairman Eugene Batchelder. The stock, which inched up 0.1% in afternoon trade, has dropped 17% year to date, while the energy ETF has lost 14% and the S&P 500 has gained 9.3%.